Central Florida Bass Anglers

Another tournament in the books for the Best Bass Anglers in Central Florida. Lake Kissimmee, one of many, of the states finest bass fishing lakes had some low water conditions due to the lack of rain yet to arrive from the summer storms. Lots of anglers spent time in the water, not wading for fish but pushing their boats off sandbars during practice. Talks of fish being hard to locate seemed to be the same for most. I did hear from Chip that his practice went well and that he was expecting John and him to have a decent day, go figure. Josh Rowsky came up Friday for practice from Ft. Lauderdale and couldn't find anything but dry land where he wanted to fish and he also had to get wet pushing his boat off the beaches getting stuck, so he didn't bother making the long trip back. It was another successful launch with HOT 90+ weather and a nice 15-20mph West wind. 1st place went to the team of Chip Dover and John Ricketson with a FAT Sack of 19.24lbs. The practice payed off for the duo as the two found fish in Lake Kissimmee. They started off on the North West side flipping cover to get their limit by 10am. The two caught 8 fish there before moving to the South end and finding a top water and a flipping bite. They caught two 4+lb fish here to cull two 1.6lb bass in the last couple of hours. This gave the team 4 fish over 4lbs that they weighed in. They caught their fish on Craws, (Shadow/Bluesilver) and Gitem Toads, (Black/Red) which were supplied by a member of the Gitem Pro Team Staff that morning. I'm just glad I've convinced Chip that those Toads are great Baits. This is the Teams second win this year on the Chain. Chip said they never missed a bite, they were 18 for 18 all day. With stats like that it’s a wonder why their in the money 80% of the time. I personally think it’s all John Ricketson. (LOL) Well done again guys and nice Fat Sack. 2nd place went to Team Solo, Tim Fey. I guess fishing alone Tim doesn't argue much with himself on locations to go to. He just rides around until BAM!! I'm here! He runs into something that stops him dead in his tracks. That was the case on Saturday as it payed off for him by bottoming out in Hatchinha and instead of idling a mile or so he just started throwing a Gitem Shad, (Watermelon/Red) in the grass to nail his 3 fish that he weighed in for a nice weight of 12.95lbs. Not bad considering,.. maybe others will start using that pattern. Nice Job and at least you don't have to share the money. 3rd place went to the Father and Son Team of Walter and Matt Gurgacz. This team has been in some what of an extended slump for the last year, with this finish hopefully they can get some momentum going for the next tournaments. The duo fished Philly Point on the West side of Kissimmee using Texas rigs around the grass to bag 4 fish weighing 12.85lbs. The team had two nice 5 pounders in that sack and Matt also said they lost two just as big. That’s fishin! It looked like they were on some quality fish be just couldn't make it happen. I'm glad to see these guys on top making a check they deserve it. Way to go guys, keep it up. Also, Matts handling skills improved this tournament, I didn't see a fish dropped at the scales. NICE! 4th place and last pay out went to the Team of Jeff Holland and Brent Wysong. These guys made the run through the shallow waters up to Lake Cypress to catch the 3 fish they weighed-in. They threw Texas rig 10inch (Junebug) Charlie worms all day and also had the Big Bass for the day a 7.52 pound Toad. Brent said they had the bites but they couldn't get them in the boat. The bass were biting very strange so this made the hook set difficult. Great job and Beautiful Big Bass guys. Recap: Small turn out this time with only 22 boats, 5 dead fish, 4 of the 5 were out of Reids Watkins boat. He said he put some Rejuvenate fish formula in his live wells and the fish just died. That Sucks! Only 2 limits of fish weighed-in. Most fish were caught in 2 foot or less of water. 4 of the 22 boats ran in to Toho and all had a tough time locating fish, that cost a lot. Anglers of the year race is still out there for those in the top 6 spots.